Giving gifts to family and charity while you’re alive can be a boon to them – and your estate.

Estate planning isn’t just about how you want your assets distributed after you die. It’s about deciding how much you want to give away while you’re still alive. If you plan carefully – so you don’t outlive your assets – giving allows you to reduce your taxable estate and provide advance help to your beneficiaries.

There are two easy ways to give gifts without incurring the gift tax:

You may pay an unlimited amount in medical or educational expenses for another person, if you give the money directly to the institutions where the expenses were incurred. You may give up to $13,000 a year in cash or assets to as many people as you like.

Anytime you give more than $13,000 annually to any one person you must file a gift-tax return and the excess amount will be applied toward your lifetime gift-tax exclusion of $1 million.

If at any point your gifts exceed that exclusion, you will have to pay gift tax on the excess amount. There is some good news in that regard. The top tax rate on gifts is gradually declining and will fall to 35 percent by 2010.

Keep in mind, too, that gifts you give within three years of your death that exceed the lifetime gift-tax exclusion will reduce the amount of money you may leave to your heirs free of federal estate taxes, according to certified public accountant P. Jeffrey Christakos of First Union Securities in Westfield, N.J. For example, if you give away $100,000 more than your lifetime exclusion within three years of your death, your estate-tax exemption will be reduced by $100,000.

If you want to invest in a 529 college savings plan for a beneficiary, contributions are treated as gifts. You may put in as much as $65,000 in one year ($130,000 with your spouse), but that contribution will be treated as if it were being made in $13,000 installments over five years.

That means you can’t give any more money to that beneficiary tax-free during that five-year period. Should you die before the five years are up, part of the money you gave will be included in your taxable estate, specifically the $65,000 minus $13,000 for each year you were alive.

The tax consequence of making large gifts can get complicated. So if you have a large estate, consult with your financial or tax planner to see how much giving you can do without triggering a big tax bill. Charitable donations are another way to reduce your estate. By investing in charitable gift funds and community foundations, those donations can stretch beyond your death.

Charitable gift funds, which are offered by Fidelity, Vanguard and others, permit you to make a tax-deductible donation, grow your investment tax-free, and then direct a contribution – in your name – to nonprofits of your choosing whenever you like.

Community foundations are regionally based charities that take donations of as little as $5,000 in cash, stock or property. The foundations invest that money, pool the gains, and allocate grants, usually to local nonprofits. In most cases, you may either have the foundation give money to organizations you choose or ask the foundation to locate a worthy recipient for a cause you like.

You also can set up what’s known as a charitable lead trust, from which a charity receives the income and your heirs the principal; or a charitable remainder trust, in which your heirs get the income and the charity gets the principal.

Do you own your own business? Trying to succeed in growing your business into a successful company? Branding is a very important step for all businesses, and there is no greater marketing strategy than branding. Your products will develop trust and credibility. An effective way to build your brand is for your company is to use unique corporate gifts to build a permanent impression with your customers and clients.

Buying a corporate gift which is unique enough so that your brand will stick in the minds of clients and customers. Making a positive and lasting impression will benefit you when a certain need arises for your product “you” will be the first business they think about. When buying a unique business gift, you can choose something that is different in shape, has an unusual designs or something a little more creative. It is always good to think outside of the box when choosing a corporate gift. A business gift can also be personalized with your company name and logo on it. By personalizing business gifts, the information on it can be distributed to loyal customers, clients, business partners and employees.

Quality is another important thing to remember when trying to brand your product or company. Do not buy something with low quality just to save a few extra dollars. If the gift you are giving doesnt perform well or looks inferior, you are not going to give your clients a good impression. And of course quality does not necessarily mean expensive. To get the most for your money, search online to find suppliers, online corporate gift companies offer better pricing when compared to other companies as they do not have huge overheads when by operating on the internet. There are many suppliers with a lot of experience in helping you find that perfect corporate business gift for your clients. This will give you an edge when trying to brand your company while staying on budget!

Using corporate business gifts to help create a strong brand is a way of getting your business or product in the minds of your clients and customers. Clients will know about your business and have a sense of value for what your business can do. By giving unique corporate gifts you are building a strong relationship, one that will last for many years. Doesnt matter what size your business is, big or small, building your brand through promotion of corporate business gifts is a key ingredient to the success of your business.